DO Ribera del Guadiana maintains a strong historical tradition as regards vine growing. Currently, this Extremadura appellation, irrigated by the Guadiana river, from which it takes its name, is making an important effort to keep up with vitiviniculture techniques and marketing strategies, in order to position its wines in the place their quality deserves, both on the home and abroad markets.

To recall ancient viticulture in Extremadura is to evoke its early settlers, the Celts and Lusitanians, but it was without doubt the Roman civilisation that essentially sowed the seeds of viticulture and saw it prosper. The large population established at Emérita Augusta and the large nomadic population that came and went along the Roman roads that united the region with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, gave rise to a flourishing and affluent consumer society.

One of the oldest archaeological pieces of evidence relating to wine culture in Extremadura is the ‘Kylix de Medellín’, a wide-mouthed drinking cup from the 5th century BCE, that points to the use of wine in funeral banquets. As to images, one of the most important is the Augusta Emérita mosaic, dated around the 3rd century CE, found in the Casa del Anfiteatro (Amphitheatre), whose central motif depicts three people surrounded by vine tendrils, treading grapes.

The city of Plasencia was founded in medieval times, and was grated its own legal statutes or ‘privileges’, many of which revolved around wine, by King Alfonso VIII, clearly demonstrating the economic importance of vine growing in the region during that period.

The first document making reference to wine in this region dates from 1573 and is a manuscript written about the wines King Charles I was acquainted with during his stay in Yuste. During the following century, Extremadura saw a relatively important expansion of its vineyards.

However, this boom was cut short during the second half of the 19th century, a period in which the vineyard, as in other regions, was affected by parasitic problems such as powdery mildew (1845), Phylloxera (1868) and mildew (1878).

It was not until after the Civil War, in 1939, that the vine growers started to replant. Overcoming those difficult subsequent years, Extremadura’s viticulture began to look eagerly towards new consumption trends. Wine producers, savvy in economic reality, guided the vine growers and related industries, using selective criteria, towards more modern viticulture and oenology. A philosophy that still inspires them today.

Extremadura wines obtained their seal of identity and quality in 1999, the year in which the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food ratified the Regulation Council’s by-laws. And as a result, with the creation of DO Ribera del Guadiana, recognition was obtained for the good work and the innate vocation of Extremadura’s terroir.